Ultimate Guide

Digital Marketing Bootcamps

Inside This Article

When you think of your next tech job, does “Digital Marketer” come to mind? It should; a solid understanding of marketing, combined with analytical and a few tech skills, can lead to a fulfilling, evolving career. By 2021, US companies are expected to spend $129 billion on Digital Marketing investments. With the increase in marketing buys over the last few years, experts have forecasted that digital will eventually account for 50% of total advertising spend. So what is digital marketing, and exactly what skills do you need to be successful? Check out our Guide to Digital Marketing Bootcamps to find which types of jobs and salaries you could land in digital marketing, the skills you need to excel in the field, and the best Digital Marketing Bootcamps today.

What is Digital Marketing?

Digital Marketing refers to a company’s online branding assets – it’s an umbrella term for all marketing done online. While you may think of marketing as print ads, commercials, direct mail, or telemarketing, expect digital marketing to soon overtake these traditional methods and impact how we consume ads.

The opportunities are nearly endless for digital marketers. Many types of companies require these skills – job positions are not limited to the tech industry! Many marketers work in advertising agencies, but every company, in pretty much any industry, has the potential to need a digital marketer to promote their product or services online. Digital marketers work with email, social media, video, and SEO to promote brands across the digital sphere.

The Digital Marketing Economy

What does the Digital Marketing landscape look like? Well, Digital Marketing is expected to see exponential growth over the next few years. An eMarketer report forecasts spend on digital to increase from $83 billion in 2017 to $129 billion in 2021. The report found that digital advertising made up 36.7% of companies’ total marketing budgets in 2016, and in 2021, digital is expected to account for 49.9% of total spending. And get this – out of the digital spending for 2017, 70% of that was estimated to be from mobile advertising. The report posits that this increase in mobile ads is due to the overwhelming love for social media, which has essentially changed the way we consume content and advertising.

Average Salary for Digital Marketers

According to Glassdoor, US digital marketing salaries range from $43,000 to $86,000 with an average salary of $67,230. For Advertising Managers, Promotions Managers, and Marketing Managers, the salary potential is even higher with the average being $127,560 per year according to The Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Skills for Digital Marketers

There are a lot of areas that Digital Marketers can specialize in. But if you want to be an all-around marketer, these are some of the technical tools and concepts that marketers need to know about:

What soft skills will you need as a digital marketer? It’s important to understand that your job will be to get messaging across to consumers and stakeholders. Marketing is a creative science; the goal is to get the public to trust and believe in your product. As Dave Boscom, a VP of Marketing and Mentor at Springboard explains, "The best digital marketer is creative but also cares enough about the analytics and the data behind that creative. I've seen a lot of people who are super creative, but they just don't pay attention to the numbers or care about the results. Others are super analytical, but they don't have any good ideas on ad copy. To be successful, especially at the strategic level, you've got to have a combination of creative and analytical skills." If you want to be successful, you need to combine your tech knowledge with these soft skills:

For example, at growth marketing agency Digital Hot Sauce, CEO Scot Sustad explains what they’re looking for in marketers: “Depending on an employee’s competencies, they can go into project management, account management, strategy, client interactions. Or they can go into a specialist role like SEO (search engine optimization), PPC (pay-per-click), copywriting, design, etc.” Digital Hot Sauce likes hiring from San Francisco-based coding bootcamp RED Academy because their graduates learn full stack marketing. Scot notes that “bootcamp students may not be amazing at any one thing, but they’ll know how to do it all, and can dive into client work right away.”

BitmakerLength: 10 weeks, part-timeCurriculum: Students will learn SEO, SEM, social media advertising, how to plan and execute a digital marketing campaign, and spend real ad dollars on real clients.Career Prep: Bitmaker has a network of employers to connect students to new job opportunities.Cost: $2,500Location: Toronto

BrainStationLength: 10 weeks or 5 weeks, part-timeCurriculum: Students will learn Branding & Strategy, Owned, Paid & Earned Media, E-Mail Marketing, and Analytics by completing a digital marketing campaign that is actionable and measurable.Career Prep: BrainStation offers interview guidance and practice, as well as tips on building a stand-out resume and portfolio.Cost: $2,900Location: NYC, Vancouver, Toronto, and online

General AssemblyLength: 10 weeks, part-time or accelerated 1-weekCurriculum: Students gain proficiency in social advertising using Facebook, Google AdWords, and Google Analytics to understand user behavior.Career Prep: The General Assembly careers team partners with companies for course development and graduate placement.Cost: $3,950Location: NYC, Washington, DC, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and more

GrowthX AcademyLength: 5 weeks, part-timeCurriculum: Students will get a deep dive into target audiences, digital advertising, organic traffic, analytics, and referrals.Career Prep: Throughout the course, students work with mentors and a career coach through the GrowthX Academy Career Canvas Funnel™, which helps match students to jobs.Cost: $2,495Location: San Francisco or online

RED AcademyLength: 12 weeks and 24 weeks, full-time; 10 weeks, part-time; 48 weeks, full-time work-studyCurriculum: The course covers social media, search engine optimization, analytics, advertising and content marketing. Students will create and pitch digital marketing strategies for real clients, in an agency-style environment.Career Prep: RED Academy is dedicated to graduates finding new positions and helping them utilize the skill set learned in order to make an impact.Cost: £7,950, $17,500 CAD, $2,450 CAD, and $12,500 CADLocation: London, Toronto, and Vancouver

Startup InstituteLength: 12 weeks, part-timeCurriculum: Students learn performance and content marketing with a focus on generating actionable insights from data analytics.Career Prep: Startup Institute works with students to prepare for the job search by hosting demo day, mock interviews, and helping with resume critiques.Cost: $9,500Location: Boston

TradecraftLength: 12 weeks, full-timeCurriculum: The Growth track gives tradecraft students exposure to customer engagement funnels, user acquisition, retention to revenue, and referrals.Career Prep: Students have access to career prep programs and resources until they find a job.Cost: $14,000Location: San Francisco

About The Author

Lauren is a communications and operations strategist who loves to help others find their idea of success. She is passionate about techonology education, career development, startups, and the arts. Her background includes career/youth development, public affairs, and philanthropy. She is from Richmond, VA and now currently resides in Los Angeles, CA.

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